Writing, Research & Reporting Workshop I G54.1021.001 Fall 2009 WRR I: STUDIO 20 Professor: Jason Samuels Room 750 Cooper Square Wed. 1:00p-6:50p Email: Jms36@nyu.edu Email Assignments: Profsamuels@Gmail.com Cell: 917-817-3945 Office Hours: Wed. 7p-9p. Fri. 11a-1p by appointment. Room 728. Office Telephone: 212-992-7981 "Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." - Joseph Pulitzer. Course Description WRR1 is a foundation course designed to sharpen your news judgment and define your core writing, research and reporting skills. Our class will be held in 20 Cooper Square, but the real classroom will be New York City. During the semester students will be required, almost immediately, to hit the pavement to research, report and write. Your assignments and deadlines will provide you with the opportunity to produce a wide variety of original stories, in a number of different formats. In addition to constructing your own news stories, throughout the semester you will meet accomplished journalists who will visit our classroom to talk about their work and their place in the shifting media landscape. Students in this course are expected to generate journalism that will interest an audience beyond the classroom. Expect to learn from your mistakes. Course Requirements - Be a news consumer. - Stay on top of the news. Select classes will include a brief current events news quiz. Your score on these quizzes will count towards your final grade.
- Participate in class discussions. - File on deadline. If your assignment is not emailed directly to me (profsamuels@gmail.com) by the established deadline, your grade on that assignment will drop a letter. - You must show up to class. Two unexcused absences will result in a grade point deduction. Students with three unexcused absences will fail the course. Required Books - The Associated Press Stylebook. - The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, by Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel. - Reporting for the Media, Ninth Edition, by Fred Felder, John R. Bender, Lucinda Davenport, Michael W. Drager. *In addition to these books, I will provide you with additional reading material. Grades Newsquizzes and Class Participation: 25% Assignments: 50% Final project: 20% Curiosity: 5% Grades will conform to the Journalism Department s policy: A = publishable as is. B = publishable with light editing. C = publishable with a rewrite. D = major problems with facts, reporting, writing. F = missing key facts, containing gross misspellings, plagiarism or libel.
Plagiarism: All students are required to sign the department's ethics pledge. Be clear: plagiarism or fabricating sources, quotes, sentences from any print, broadcast or online source is strictly forbidden. Any incidents of plagiarism will be punished with an automatic F and the Department chair will be notified. You should keep contact information for all sources quoted in your work. I will check in with your sources on occasion. Course Outline (Subject to Change): Sept. 9, 2009 Topics: Class introduction; Discuss neighborhood beat assignments; Elements of Journalism; Reporting and Writing basics I. Assignment: Read "Elements of Journalism" Introduction and Chapter 1; Read "Reporting for the Media" Chapters 2, 3 and 6; Develop two neighborhood story ideas; Write student profile. (Word Count: 300 max. Due: Sept. 12th.) Sept. 16, 2009 Topics: Reporting and Writing basics II; Review student profiles; Review neighborhood beat story ideas; NYU Research Library. Assignment: Read "Reporting for the Media" Chapters 4 and 20; Read AP Stylebook Chapter - "Briefing on Media Law"; Read investigative reporting handout; Produce neighborhood beat article. (Due: Sept 19th.) Sept. 23, 2009 Topics: Review neighborhood stories; Copy Editing; Investigative Reporting/FOIA. Guest: Joel Siegel, Lead Writer - ABC World News, Former Editor - N.Y. Daily News. Assignment: Read "Elements of Journalism" Chapters 2 & 3; Cover AP Daybook News Event: TBD. (Word Count: 350-450. Due: Sept. 26nd.)
Sept. 30, 2009 Topics: Review Daybook event stories; Attribution; Objectivity. Assignment: Read "Reporting for the Media" Chapters 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10; Cover AP Daybook news event: TBD. (Word Count: 200-300. Due: October 3 rd. ) Oct. 7, 2009 Topics: Review Daybook event stories; News Judgment 101. Guest: Geraldine Moriba-Meadow, VP NBC News Standards and Practices. Assignment: Read "Elements of Journalism" Chapter 6; Read "Reporting for the Media" Chapter 15; Produce a neighborhood beat article. (Word Count: 250 max. Due Oct. 10th.) Oct. 14, 2009 Topic: Review neighborhood beat articles; Writing for print vs. dot.com. Guest: Scott Cohen, Executive Editor - NYDailyNews.com; Assignment: Read "Reporting for the Media" Chapter 14; Write review of www.thegrio.com and come up with story pitches. (Word Count: 250 Max. Due Oct. 17th) Oct. 21, 2009 Topics: Review www.grio.com synopsis; Guest: David Wilson, Executive Producer, www.thegrio.com Assignment: Read "Elements of Journalism" Chapter 7; Write article for www.thegrio.com Oct. 28, 2009 Topics: Review www.thegrio.com articles; Covering Politics.
Assignment: Write article on 2009 NYC mayoral election. (Word Count: 300 Max. Due: Midnight Nov. 3 rd.) Nov. 4, 2009 Topics: Review election articles; Blogging 101. Guest: Frankie Edozien, NYU Professor, New York Times The Local. Assignment: Write neighborhood blog. (Four entries. word Count: 150 Each. Due: Oct 31th.) Nov. 11, 2009 Topics: Review neighborhood blogs; Multimedia reporting. Guest: Lara Setrekjian, ABC News Digital Reporter, based in Iran. Assignment: Read Charlie LeDuff's New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning story - "At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die"; Read "Elements of Journalism" Chapter 8.; Develop Final Project story ideas; Cover news event using Twitter by Nov. 14 th.). Nov. 18, 2009 Topics: Review tweets; Participatory journalism. Guest: Charlie Leduff, multimedia reporter, Detroit News. Assignment: Read "Elements of Journalism" Chapters 9 & 10; Produce a news story featuring first-person participatory journalism. (Word Count: 400 Max. Due: Nov. 21 st.) Nov. 25, 2008 No Class Thanksgiving Break. Dec. 2, 2009 Topics: Review participatory articles; Review final project pitches.
Guest: Jon Banner, Executive Producer, ABC World News with Charles Gibson. Assignment: Produce Final Project. (Word Count: 1000 Max. Due Dec. 8th.) Dec. 9, 2008 Topics: Review Final Projects. ###